On September 1st, USPP Lieutenant Simeon Klebaner and Ranger Michelle Schonzeit went hiking on Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park when they came upon a severely injured hiker.

While attempting to help the hiker out of the backcountry, they became concerned that wet terrain and potential storms would impede them in their efforts and might also cause additional injury to the victim. Klebaner accordingly contacted the Park Police Aviation Unit and asked for a helicopter extrication.

Pilot Officer Evasick and Rescue Technicians Sergeant Tolson and Sergeant Robbins responded in Eagle Two and conducted a hoist rescue of the injured hiker.

Once the injured hiker was safely delivered to the hospital, U.S. Park Police units responded to a call of an injured 12-year-old with a traumatic leg injury on the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls Park. Eagle Two headed to that location, where they mad another hoist rescue.

The Aviation Unit has completed 16 hoist rescues since this past January, surpassing 2013’s ten hoist rescues conducted throughout the course of the year.

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ)Hiker Dies On North Kaibab Trail

On the afternoon of Friday, September 19th, park dispatch received a 911 call from a visitor reporting that a hiker had fallen and was having trouble breathing.

Park rangers responded by helicopter and found the man about a half mile below Ribbon Falls on the North Kaibab Trail. A park EMT and two medics were inserted and assisted with CPR, which was already in progress. All efforts to resuscitate the man proved unsuccessful.

Michael Sperry, 46, of Valparaiso, Indiana, had been on a rim-to-rim extended day hike with his two brothers when he collapsed. Witnesses, who began CPR, reported an immediate loss of consciousness from which he never recovered. CPR efforts continued for over an hour before he was pronounced dead.

His body was flown to the South Rim and then transported to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office in Flagstaff for an autopsy.

Gauley River National Recreation Area (WV)Injured Boaters Evacuated During Gauley Fest Weekend

Rangers responded to a flurry of injured whitewater boaters requesting evacuation from the Gauley River last Saturday morning.

At the time, a number of rangers were already committed to handling the large volume of boater traffic that was headed into the Tailwaters parking area and boat launch. Within a span of about ten minutes, rangers were advised of three injured boaters needing attention.

Off-duty ranger Stan Wilson responded from his nearby residence and coordinated the evacuation of two boaters from the confluence of the Gauley and Meadow Rivers along with members of the Ansted VFD and a local ambulance service.

Both boaters were commercial rafting company customers. One was suffering from a knee injury believed to be a dislocation, and the other was suffering from a probable broken femur. Both injuries were stabilized on site. Wilson then used the parks UTV to transport them to waiting ambulances which took them to local hospitals. A third boater with a minor injury walked out without NPS assistance.

Gauley River rafting season visitation peaked on Saturday, September 20th, during the Gauley Fest weekend, an American Whitewater-sponsored paddling festival believed to be the largest such festival in the world. There are three weekends left in the season, which ends October 19th.

On September 18th, the Coast Guard in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, received a call for assistance from the research vessel David Boyd, which was inspecting a newly-discovered shipwreck in Lake Superior. The captain declared a SCUBA emergency and requested medical assistance for a 64-year-old diver who had ascended too quickly from a 220-foot-deep dive.

The nearest Coast Guard vessel was five hours away, so assistance was sought from rangers in Grand Marais, Michigan. Rangers Shaun Hughes and Matt Davis responded in the park boat along with members of the Burt Township ambulance corps and the local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

After battling waves up to six feet high, rangers made contact with the David Boyd approximately eight miles offshore of Grand Marais. Park and local EMTs boarded the research vessel and found the diver to be suffering from probable decompression sickness – he was weak and lethargic and unable to move or bear weight on his legs.

EMTs continued treatment as the ailing diver was transported to a waiting Valley Med Flight helicopter at the Grand Marais harbor. He was then transported to a hyperbaric chamber in Marquette, Michigan, where he is still undergoing treatment. Other assisting agencies included the Alger County Sheriff’s office, Burt Township Fire Department and USCG Air Station Traverse City.

Park staff were involved in several incident responses over a three-day period last week, including a technical rescue coordinated by the park’s SAR Team (Ozark NSR Hellbenders) and a boating accident resulting in a fatality.

Early on the afternoon of September 17th, rangers were notified of the need for a possible rescue in the Blair’s Creek area for a 22-year-old man who’d fallen from a cliff. Knowing this area was extremely remote and hard to access, rangers responded with technical rescue equipment. They attempted to gain additional information while en route to determine if this incident was inside the park, but were only able to determine that the victim was unconscious and located about “100 feet up the hill.” Lack of a specific location and deteriorating weather conditions due to localized heavy rain indicated multiple possibilities for access and extrication of the victim. Additional rangers with rescue boats, ATVs, and four wheel drive vehicles were dispatched to the area.

Rangers Chris Figge and Nick Money first arrived on scene and determined the incident was on private property about a quarter mile from the park’s boundary. The injured man was unconscious and non-responsive. Local first responders and rangers were able to reach him by walking in. Due to the muddy conditions and the treacherous terrain, a decision was made to lower him to the ground (approximately 50 feet below), which could be accessed by vehicles. Responders packaged and lowered him to Reynolds County paramedics, who took over patient care. The man remains hospitalized.

At the time of the incident, a film crew from Animal Planet was on site filming for an upcoming reality TV show called “Emerald Earth” which features “Homesteaders.” They were filming the residents in a privately owned cave. The victim was climbing the bluff outside the cave when he fell approximately 50 feet. Figge was IC for the incident.

Just after 11 p.m. on September 20th, rangers were notified of a boating accident that had resulted in a drowning of a 74-year-old local man. An off-duty state trooper who was on scene reported that a boat had capsized after hitting a log while gigging (fishing) and that four people were in the water.

Other giggers and campers attempted to reach the scene, but access was difficult. Twenty minutes passed before they were able to rescue three of the four from the cold waters of the Current River. The fourth person was located on the bottom of the river in a deep hole at the base of a root wad.

Several attempts were made to recover the victim, but were not successful due to the depth of the water. The first arriving ranger was advised that the victim had been recovered and was being transported by boat a short distance to the Pin Oak Campground. The investigation remains open and is being conducted in cooperation with the Missouri Highway Patrol. Lindel Gregory was the incident commander.

During the morning of August 9th, the pilot of a small airplane had to make an emergency landing on the Shark Valley Tram Road due to a possible engine failure.

Three men from the ages of 25 to 30 on board. The men, each of whom had a private airline license, were practicing for their commercial license by doing several maneuvers. They were heading back to the Tamiami Airport when the plane lost power over the Everglades.

The pilot said that he had visited Shark Valley about a month earlier and remembered the paved road there. He was attempting to land on the popular West Road, but saw visitors walking and biking there so maneuvered the aircraft to the relatively unpopulated East Road. He was able to make the emergency landing by briefly touching the plane down on the road before it went off into the Everglades sawgrass.

Everglades rangers and Miami-Dade County and Miccosukee units all responded. There were no injuries.

The plane was removed without complications following a NEPA review to determine the safest method to prevent damage to the natural and cultural resources in the area.

Joshua Tree National Park (CA)Search In Progress For Missing Woman

On Monday, September 8th, Nola Taylor, 84, left the Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, en route to her quilting class at the Yucca Valley Community Center. She never arrived there.

Taylor’s vehicle was discovered by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Friday, September 12th, after her son reported her missing. The car appeared to have become disabled while turning around on a life estate private road in the park.

The sheriff’s department started an immediate search of the area using patrol personnel, aircraft, bloodhounds, and their own search and rescue teams. They did not realize at the time that this was an obscure portion of the park, but upon notification began cooperative efforts with park staff.

Rangers and volunteers from the park’s SAR team, JOSAR, are coordinating search activities with the sheriff’s department on both sides of the park boundary. Taylor has still not been located.

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This blog and all associated content do not reflect the views of my employer, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Park Service, or the Department of the Interior
In other words, this is all me..